Destiny
by Sushi Hoshi
Summary: Terrible title, but I've never been great with doing titles. Link, Mido's favourite punching bag, strikes out on his own.


It was a sunny and cloudy day in Hyrule. One moment the sun was shining brightly, fighting through the clouds in brilliance, and the next, it was obscured like a flame snuffed in despair. Link was sitting alone on a wall in Hyrule field, thinking and sulking, but mostly sulking. It had been a terrible day, so far, and the weather reflected his mood. He furrowed his brow, glowering at the ground, kicking a clod of dirt as he grumbled to himself. 

"Stupid Mido. He never gives me a break. Why, if I could just show him how things would be if I were bigger..." Link envisioned himself twice the size of Mido, towering over the lesser Kokiri. "He'd be so scared of me. I wish..." He could just see it, Mido, with that frightened look on his face, apologizing for being nasty all of those times, him being the outcast for once. It was an empowering fantasy, but just that, a fantasy. Link quickly came back down to earth and sighed. The day had started out much like any other. He had awoken late in the morning, tardy for the morning exercises and the Deku Tree's daily blessing. As usual, Link was the last to stumble into the Deku Tree's glen, his hair a mess, wearing a dirty, rumpled tunic. He was met with snickers, of course. That was normal, he was used to that, but then someone stuck out their foot and tripped him as he hurried to sit next to Saria. Skinned elbows had resulted, not to mention a few tears he could not hold back. Things had only turned worse from there. After the morning ceremony, Mido had followed Link back to his tree house with the Know-it-all brothers and played a game of keep away with his hat. When the four grew tired of taunting, they had set to kicking poor Link and throwing dirt in his eyes. 

"Come on baby! Cry, why don't you? That's what little babies do, right?"  
  
Choking on dust and crying, Link had dragged himself back up into his treehouse and hid. That had resulting in more taunting from the group below for the next ten minutes. When all was clear, Link dried his eyes, stuffed his slingshot in his pocket, and carefully made his way outside. There was no one in sight. Kokiri Forest was no place for him. He couldn't stand the taunting, teasing, and general abuse. It was too much. He had decided to run away. To where? Link didn't know, but it would be somewhere grand. Well, better than his current place of residence, anyway. The others were probably having lunch, which would have accounted for the emptiness of the general area. He made his way to the entrance and without so much as a glance backward, ran out. Fada, the guard of the forest entrance, didn't see Link go by because he was fast asleep. As he neared the end of the forest entrance, Link felt a tight knot forming in the pit of his stomach. He had never been away from the Kokiri Village before. Sure, he had been in the Lost Woods, but that was a neccessary thing, and he was always with a group, which never ventured too far. But here, he was heading out of the Forest itself, and that was totally different. There were rumours among the Kokiri, that those who left the Forest would die. No one knew how one would die, or how the rumours even started, but it served a strong deterrant for those who would otherwise venture out. Link never totally believed those stories. No one had ever been out of the forest, therefore, how could anyone know that it was true? Of course, it all seemed very different, now that he was actually doing it. He stopped for a moment, in an area where the trees had begun to thin, ever slightly, and considered whether this was a wise thing to do. What if he did die? What if there was some validity to those stories he had heard? However, when he thought about what was waiting for him back in the Village, Link's previous resolve returned. He would not be shunned, beaten, humiliated, and otherwise. No, he was doing this for himself. He was going to have a grand adventure. He would never turn back. 

Link had walked for most of the afternoon, the trees becoming more and more sparse. As he pushed onward, it were as though a veil were pulled back from the sky. The Kokiri Forest had been cool and green. It wasn't dark, per say, but the light was somewhat dimmed inside. As he drew further and further away from what had been his home, the sun shone brighter and brighter, until it burned his eyes. The brightness was of an intensity he had never known, and it scared him, slightly. What was this strange new world he was about to embark upon? How could anyone live in such intense light? The woods ended abruptly and Link was almost surprised that he was out of them. Before him there was flat, grassy land, stretching on for what seemed like forever. It was a strange sight to behold and he drew a breath in awe. He wished for a moment that he had someone to share this with, someone to feel the same as he. Link had never really felt lonely before, since loneliness was his constant companion, but now, his isolation became painfully apparent. For a second time, he turned back and stared at the trees. A slight longing pulled at him from inside, but he knew there was nothing left for him. All he was missing was familiarity, and that is something of poor comfort to one treated as badly as he. Link continued forward in the direction of the sun. 

He walked for most of the afternoon, ever casting his eyes in each direction in search of a landmark of some sort. This flat land was empty, indeed, and it seemed forever before he finally happened upon a short, slightly crumbling wall. Despair over his current situation had begun to settle in again as clouds had rushed in overhead, and he decided to stop and rest. Here he now found himself, sulking and brooding atop the half-decayed stone wall. What was his lot in life, Link wondered. The Deku Tree had always taught he and the other Kokiri that there were three goddesses in the heavens watching over them. He had always made clear that they were children of these goddesses and that they were all loved, each and every one.  
"You each have a purpose in life," the sage old tree had told them, "and it may not be apparent to you now what that purpose is, but you must always do your best."   
Link had always felt strangely uncomfortable at those words, and he always felt as though the Tree had aimed them mostly in his direction. How could he, Link -- the outcast, the loser, the odd one -- have some sort of great purpose in life? He didn't have a faerie, he didn't have much physical strength, and he didn't have any friends. He was the bottom of the heap, as far as he was concerned, and no such person as he could have a purpose. Mido had made that clear to Link many times over. _Perhaps it is my purpose to be a punching bag,_ he had always thought to himself. That seemed more likely than anything else. 

Link sat on the wall, sun darting in and out of the clouds, and he wondered where it was he was headed to. There was nothing in any direction that he could see. He thought that perhaps he was lost, but that didn't matter much. One couldn't have any adventures if they worried about where they were going. He would find someplace eventually. All he had to do was continue on. Link hopped down from the wall and started walking again. Secretly, he hoped that he would find someone or someplace with people soon, because he was actually quite frightened. He could easily become lost and unable to find his way back home... Not that it really mattered. The sun continued to slide in and out of the clouds with indecision. As Link walked along, he became acutely aware of the ache that was growing quickly in his stomach. He had gone all day without anything to eat or drink, and he was starting to worry about where he would find food. The field offered nothing in the line of bushes with berries or trees laden with fruit. Compared to the Forest, this place was downright barren. _I must keep going,_ he told himself. The day wore on and Link walked for what seemed like forever. His mouth was parched and dry like cloth, his stomach growling like an angry deku baba. _Is this the way I'm going to die?_ he thought. Perhaps this was how anyone who left the forest met their doom. Was it too late to turn back? The sun began to sink slowly below the horizon, and still, nothing was in sight. He walked on and on, his legs becoming numb, exhaustion taking over. Finally, Link spied a stream in the distance and hurried toward it. It was just within several steps and he stumbled on quickly, when his foot caught on a rock and he fell headlong onto the bank, banging his head and blacking out. He drifted into darkness, floating in oblivion, a black sleep. Then, after some hours, slowly, he came to. Link opened his eyes, looked above himself, and screamed. 


End file.
